Steering mechanism for motor vehicles



y 1936- w. F. STREHLOW STEERING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES Original Filed Nov. 24, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l May 5, 1936. w. STREHLOW STEERING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Original Filed Nov. 24, 1930 2 Shegets-Sheet 2 III- llll @wwmvtoz l||l|Illlll| Patented May 5, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE STEERING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Walter F. Strehlow, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Original application November 24, 1930, Serial No. 497,854. Divided and this application tober 8, 1931, Serial No. 561,582

1 Claim. (01. 280-87) This invention relates to a steering mechanism bottom of the main body is higher than in an orfor motor vehicles, for instance of the type disdinary, all purpose, tractor. This result has been closed in U. S. Patent 1,868,474, the present apaccomplished by providing particular supporting plication being a division of the application which means for the front and rear wheels. The rear has resulted in the grant of said patent. wheels 2 are mounted on final drive gear casings 5 In motor vehicles of various types, including 3, and their axis of rotation, as will be seen, is disfarm tractors, one of the requirements which posed substantially below the transverse axis of have arisen in recent times and which is now the differential housing which is indicated, genoutstanding, is that the vehicle be designed with a erally, by the numeral 4.

view to mass production. In this connection it is The front end of the tractor is supported by a 10 of the utmost importance that the various parts steering truck comprising an upper hollow casor units which make up the entire vehicle be not ing 5, a downwardly extending tubular casing or only of a thoroughly reliable construction but also spindle guide 6 and the wheels I which are that they can be produced and incorporated in disposed closely adjacent to each other as clearly the vehicle with. a minimum of cost. It is an obshown in Fig. 2. The casing 5 extends forwardly 15 ject of the invention to provide a steering mechfrom the lower portion of the crank case I of the anism for motor vehicles, which meets these reusual internal combustion motor and has a rearquirements satisfactorily, wardly projecting extension 8 detachably .se-

Another object of the invention is to provide cured to the bottom of the motor crank case i. A

a steering mechanism characterized by compactvertical front portion of the motor crank case and 20 1185s and simplicity of construction and yet ena vertical rear portion of the casing 5, as indicated tirely satisfactory for use on farm tractors which in Fig. 1, are also detachably secured to each have a centrally positioned front steering truck, other. The upper horizontal portion of the casing an engine behind said truck, and which are pow- 5 affords a seat for the radiator 9 of the tractor,

ered to be driven at relatively high speeds, such pads l0 (Fig. 3) being provided with holes to re- 25 as 20 miles per hour, or more. ceive mounting bolts of the radiator. The tubu- These and other objects and advantages of the iar casing 6 has an upper flange II and a circuinvention will be apparent from the following lar shoulder l2 projecting therefrom into a cirdescription. A clear conception of an embodlcular opening in the bottom of the casing 5. A

ment of the invention and of the operation of a Series b01158 i3 is p ov 0 d the flange 3o device constructed in accordance therewith, may H secured to t e bottom of the casing 5. be had by referring to the drawings aCCOmpany- The closely adjacent front wheels I are rotating and forming a part of this specification in ably mounted o n axle N which has a central which like reference characters designate the h b Portion splined 0n t e ow r end of a vertical same r i il parts i th r l i steering spindle l5 and retained thereon by means Fig. 1 is a side elevation o. a cultivator tracof a nut l6. Fitted to the spindle I; above the tor having afront supporting and steering device central hub portion of the axle I4 is the inner embodying the invention; race of a conical roller bearing ll whose outer Fig. 2 is an end view, partly in section, of the race is fitted to the lower end of the tubular casfront supporting and steering device shown in mg 5. The stee i g Sp n e 5 is journaled at the 40 Fig, 1; upper end of the spindle guide G-in a bearing por- Fig. 3 is a, sectional t p view f the front suption it and extends therethrough into the hollow porting and Steering device Shown i Fig. 1; and easing 5. A toothed gear I!) is splined on the end Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the tubu- 0f the Spindle 95 projecting from e bea ing lar part of the front supporting device, showing portion l8, and a nut 29 screwed upo a threaded 45 adjustable stops to limit the steering movement portion of the spindle 15 serves to retain the of the front wheels. toothed gear I9 thereon. The steering spindle IS The cultivator tractor shown in Fig. 1 is of is positioned centrally in front of the motor and what is known as the frameless type, the motor its upper end is spaced from the top wall of the crank case, the transmission casing and the difcasing 5 so that a motor starting crank 2| may 50 ferential housing forming a rigid structure which extend clear through the casing without interferis supported by front wheels I and rear wheels 2. ence with the vertical spindle 5. The toothed In accordance with the particular kind of work gear l9 meshes with a worm gear 22 which is rofor which the tractor is intended its ground cleartatably mounted on a vertical shaft :3 whose once, that is, the distance from the ground to the ends are secured in suitable lugs 24 formed on 55 the inner sides of the top wall and of the bottom wall of the casing 5. A worm 25 meshing with the worm gear 22 is securely mounted on a horizontai worm shaft 2% which is rotatably supported within the casing 5 by means of conical roller bearings 2?. These bearings are arranged so as to take up axial thrust of the worm shaft in both directions. The rear portion of the worm shaft projects through the rear wall of the casing 5 and is connected to a steering column 23 by means of a universal joint 29. The rear end of the steering column 28 is positioned about centrally between the rear wheels 2 above the differential housing i, and its axis is horizontally as well as vertically inclined with respect to the axis of the worm shaft 26. The axis of the worm shaft 26 is spaced from the axis of the steering spindle iii for a sufficient distance horizontally so that the rearwardly elongated axis of the worm shaft 2% does not run into a portion of the crank case 1 immediately behind the casing 5, which arrangement provides for clearance between the forward part of the vertically and horizontally inclined steering column and the motor. In other words, the motor occupies a space between the rearwardly elongated axis of the worm shaft 28 and a plane through the axis of the steering spindle 55, parallel to said worm shaft axis, and the forward part of the steering column clears the motor at the side of the latter adjacent to the axis of the worm shaft 2%. The worm 25, worm gear 22 and toothed gear l9 afford a simple and efficient means for transmitting rotary movement from the worm shaft 26 to the steering spindle l5 at a suitable and desirable ratio of transmission.

A hand wheel 39 is secured to the rear end of the steering column, and it will be understood that turning this hand wheel to the right (looking from the operators seat 3?), will cause the worm 25 to rotate the worm gear 22 in Fig. 3, in an. anticlockwise direction, while the toothed gear l9 and with it the spindle l5 will be rotated in a clockwise direction. As the axle i i, carrying the front wheels l, is fixed to the lower end of the vertical spindle iii the described clockwise movement of the latter will cause the front wheels to swing to the right, and thus the tractor will be steered in that direction. The angle through which the spindle l5 may be turned is limited by a stud 3i (Fig. l), which projects from the spindle i and cooperates with either one of the set screws 32 or 33 which are held in a suitable position in the tubular casing Referring again to Figs. 2 and 3 it should be noted that the worm 25 occupies approximately the same position relative to the steering spindle which it would occupy if the gear wheel it were enlarged to such a diameter and otherwise properly modified so as to cooperate directly with the worm 253. In other words, the worm 25 is mounted on the worm shaft 26 adjacent to the point of the worm shaft axis which has the shortest distance from the axis of the spindle l5, and the gear wheel iii, on the other hand, is mounted on the spindle l5 adjacent to the point of the spindle axis which has the shortest distance from the axis of the worm. shaft 28. It will be under stood, however, that the transmission gearing including the worm 25, worm gear 22 and toothed gear i9 differs in various respects from the case just referred to in which the gear wheel l9 was assumed to cooperate directly with the worm 25. the first place, if the pitch of the Worm 25 were left unchanged and the toothed gear 29, se-

to the spindle it, were made large enough and otherwise properly modified to cooperate directly with the worm 25, then the mechanism would be such as to make it necessary to turn the hand wheel 30 a relatively great number of times before the ground wheels I would be turned from their straight ahead position into the ex treme position towards the left or right, whereas with the mechanism as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 only relatively few turns of the hand wheel 30 are necessary to turn the ground wheels through the same angle. This should be obvious from the fact that, with the same pitch of the worm, the ratio of transmission between the worm shaft 2'5 and the spindle I5 is much higher in the mechanism as shown, than it would be if the toothed gear [9 were made to cooperate directly with the worm 25.

Further, it should be noted that the toothed gear l9 would have to be, modified not only as to its pitch diameter but also as to the arrangement of its teeth in order to make it cooperate with the worm 25. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the teeth of the toothed gear l9 cooperate with the teeth of the worm gear 22 whose teeth, in turn, cooperate with thethreads of the worm 25, the teeth of the'wonn gear 22, according to conventional worm gear design, being set at an angle, as on a spiral gear, to insure proper mesh with the worm 25. The gear IS, in order to properly mesh with the worm gear 22, therefore, likewise has its teeth set at an angle, as on a spiral gear, but the teeth at the side of the gear !9 facing the worm 25 are inclined in a direction opposite to the inclination which would be required for proper cooperation with the threads of the worm. The gear [9, although being itself a spiral gear whose teethare set at an angle corresponding, as

to the number of degrees, to the helix angle of the worm, could not be made to mesh with the worm 25 by merely increasing its pitch diameter, but it would further be necessary to reverse the inclination of the teeth of the gear I9.

The worm 25 and the gears l9 and 22 are preferably immersed in lubricant, and the upper end of the tubular casing 6 is designed so as to seal the tubular casing 6, and the front wheels I, as

will be seen, may easily be removed as a unit from the tractor, and another steering truck of well known design may be used in connection with the same main body of the tractor.

It should be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the exact details of construction herein shown and described, for various modifications within the scope of the claims may occur to persons skilled in the art.

It is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent:

In a vehicle, dirigible front wheels, a casing above the axes of said wheels, steering means for said wheels, including a substantially vertical steering spindle having a portion projecting into said casing, a worm shaft rotatably mounted in said casing on an axis non-coplanar with the axis of said steering spindle, a worm element within said casing positioned on said worm shaft adjacent to the point of the axis of the latter aosa'no which has the shortest distance from the axis of said steering spindle, a worm wheel within said casing cooperating with said worm at the side thereof facing said steering spindle, said worm wheel having a diameter less than the shortest distance between the axis of said steering spindle and the axis of said worm shaft, a toothed gear within said casing positioned on said steering spindle adjacent to the point of the axis of the latter which has the shortest distance from the axis of said worm shaft, the teeth of said toothed gear cooperating with the teeth of said worm wheel, a motor occupy ng a space behind said casing between the axis of said worm shaft and a plane through the axis of said steering spindle parallel to said worm shaft axis, and a steering column, having a forward end connected to said worm shaft, said steering column clearing said motor at the side of the latter adjacent to the axis of said worm shaft.

WALTER F. STREHLOW. 

